Week 4

Ohio State says: These cupcake games are fun, but boring and making us fat.
Ole Miss says: Yes - we are for real.
Utah says: Yes - we are that good.
Georgia says: Bring on the Tide - we're ready.
LSU says: Our RB is better than yours, Georgia.
GaTech says: How'd we lose to Duke? Don't they only play basketball?
UCLA says: Thanks, BYU, for prepping us to make a run at the PAC-12 title.
TCU says: Whew!
Baylor says: How come nobody's talking about us?
Texas says: Uh-oh.
SEC-West teams say: October is gonna be ugly.
And...
Michigan says: Hey - maybe we have something going here.
BYU says: Oh my heck - what happened to what we had going?
(BYU just didn't want to be offensive to their hosts, and they weren't).

LaVell with his head in his hands during the 3rd quarter.

Week 3

The polls are normalizing. And a bit more, I'd say, than in recent years at the Week 3 mark. The pre-season "experts" are scratching their heads about Auburn and Bama and LSU and even BYU. It's good to see this shift before the heart of conference play begins.

We can thank mostly Ole Miss and Stanford for normalizing the polls. It'll be interesting to see if they can keep it up. Ole Miss should cruise for the next few weeks as they don't meet up with LSU until season's end. Bama and Georgia both have cupcake games this week and then meet up to further normalize the SEC.

I was at the BYU-UCLA game and what a great atmosphere and fun game to be at...even if BYU didn't pull out the Hail Mary miracle again. One less holding call or one better tackle and the game could have gone the other way - it was that close. And it was a wake-up call for UCLA and likely prepped them well as they head into conference play next week (you're welcome).

Week 2

The SEC took a lot of flak this past week for having 10 teams in the Top 25. I don't know what all the hullabaloo was about; they didn't vote themselves in and they're gonna play each other. But after Saturday it doesn't matter:

• Auburn, at home, won but looked bad in an OT win against Jacksonville State.
• Arkansas lost, at home, to Toledo (it was Toledo's opener).
• Missouri squeezed by Arkansas State.
• MSU lost to LSU.

Poll Analysis: OSU appears unstoppable at this point; UGA is ranked too high (they are not yet clicking and not dominant in their play); Oregon and Auburn dropped about right; Notre Dame and FSU won't last in the Top 10; BYU entered in a little high given their erratic (but fun) play; too early for Northwestern to enter in.

END - ZONE: "All hail the underdogs."
We all love the underdog. Whether it's your team or not we all love to see the Vegas odds proved wrong. Those renegade play calls, the ad lib playmakers, the come from behind, unexpected, unbelievable wins. So a toast to all who just somehow make it happen; who have just the right mix of talent, coaching, the risk gene and just a touch of Lady Luck. It may not last long, it may not happen week-in-and-week-out, but it did happen and that's a memory you (and fans) will savor your whole life. Enjoy! This final thought goes out to those who did just that this week:

• To Jacksonville State (from the FCS) who took then #6 Auburn to OT on their own turf. Auburn will feel that sting for a long time and it surely marred their ranking.
• To Toledo, for humbling Bielema and the Arkansas run game.
• To Arkansas State for hanging with Missouri until the end.
• And of course to BYU...again. For the second straight week they entered as the underdog but walked out the spoiler. The defense kept BYU in the game (three interceptions) but they were not looking like a winner...until the last minute. Bring on the Bruins, or whoever for that matter. Who can compete with that?

Juergens brings home the go ahead ball.

"All hail the underdogs
All hail the new kids
All hail the outlaws
Spielbergs and Kubriks

It's our time to make a move
It's our time to make amends
It's our time to break the rules
Let's begin...

And I said hey
Hey, hey, hey
Living like we're renegades..."
(~X Ambassadors)

Week 1

Regardless of the outcome of BYU, Georgia or anyone else this year, this will be one of my most exciting years for three reasons: (1) season BYU tickets, (2) tickets in hand for the BYU-UCLA game in the Rose Bowl, and (3) I'm going to the World's Largest Cocktail Party on Halloween.

Pre-Season Polls
You gotta love 'em because they wet our appetite for the upcoming season. But IMHO we should do away with them. Just start ranking after Week #1. It will likely be about the same but there is always the inevitable Week #1 upset that would shake it up just a little.

The Coaches Poll (my go to) said THIS. The AP and SI followed closely, the differences not even worth mentioning. And remember, there are only two types of pre-season rankings: wrong or lucky. Nonetheless, my 2015 predictions are:

• Ohio State will not repeat, even though there is every reason to believe they will (and they looked more dominant and ready than any other team I saw).
• BYU will do better than the 8-5 seasons they've had for 3-years in a row.
• Georgia will fall short in a big game...again (but I hope not).
• The SEC will prove its prominence over the PAC-12 (who self-proclaimed themselves better).
• Baylor or TCU will get their revenge for being left out of the 2014 playoffs.
• Oklahoma might be the sleeper team that missed all the summer hype.

After Further Review...

• Over the summer the PAC-12 decided to claim themselves the best conference in college football. Hmmm...maybe you should re-think that. UW lost to Boise, WSU lost to Portland State (FCS), Stanford lost to Northwestern and Colorado lost to Hawaii. And most telling: #15 ASU lost to un-ranked TA&M. Overall: PAC -12: 7-5, SEC: 10-1 
• The BIG 10 didn't do much better with five of their teams going down. The strength-of-schedule may be a hindrance to the reigning champs come voting time.
• Taysom Hill learned passing accuracy over the summer. Well done (even if it doesn't matter now). BYU fans are sad to see Taysom go but relieved at the seamless transition to the back-up QB (Tanner Mangum).
• Although the returning starters for UGA looked impressive (as expected) there is still plenty of work to do before notching Ws over Vandy and the Ol' Ball Coach over the next two weeks.

END-ZONE
The BYU Mangum-to-Mathews Miracle at Memorial was the highlight of the day. BYU goes into the game as the underdog, missing suspended players, no sure RB, lost two key defensive players and then thier QB, 1-second left, a back-up QB fresh off his mission, a throw, into the wind, a prayer, a catch, a call, a hug, game over. What a great game with a final stunner. "Hail yes!" per the Salt Lake Tribune.